The term "channeling" refers to operation of elevator systems during up-peak in which each elevator car is successively assigned to serve only a particular sector of floors. An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,069. In some systems, the number of floors within each sector is dynamically adjusted so as to balance the number of passengers in each of the cars as they leave the lobby. An example of this type of system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,846,311, and 5,168,133.
The problem with channeling systems is that the only way in which passengers can know which elevator car to take in order to reach their destination floor is by visually observing a display of the floor number range of the sector to be served during the next trip of each elevator, as each elevator stands at the lobby loading passengers. Of course, visually handicapped persons are deprived of that information. The prior art has suggested utilizing audio announcements of the sector floor numbers, but that obviously results in a cacophony of numbers which inundate the potential passenger and render it difficult to discern the direction from which the desired range of numbers may be coming from so as to locate the elevator.